By Your Side
by Yula089
Summary: It's New Year but Ryoma is still in the US competing, Sakuno misses him completely but knows he won't make it back for the last few seconds of the year, or will he? After all our prince always does the impossible. Summary's bad, plz read, for Ryo's Bday!


_**By Your Side**_

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**A/N: Konichiwa! And meri- kurisumasu! This is a Oneshot of RyoSaku (a long one you may say… well sort of) this is my second fanfic ever (I'm going to continue with Way of Life) and I did this for our prince's birthday! **

**HAPPY BIRTHDAY (24****TH ****DECEMBER) RYOMA ECHIZEN!!! YOU RULE!!!**

**Enjoy this fanfic! Thankyou for reading this and give Ryoma a quick a happy birthday if you like! Have a meri- kurisumasu and a happy new year!**

**Code:**

**Bold: English**

Normal: Japanese

_Italic: Thoughts_

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"Sakuno? Sakuno!" Tomoka Osakada called her friend out of her trance, she waved her hand in front of her friend's face, "Are you listening?"

Sakuno snapped back to reality and turned to her friend, "G-Gomenesai! **(I'm sorry)** Could you please repeat that Tomo-chan?"

Tomoka sighed and shook her head at her friend, "You've always been zoning out lately, are you thinking about _him_ again?"

Tomoka, being the loud yet caring friend, was worried because her friend had been acting like this for a long time and Horio (Tomoka's boyfriend) kept on suggesting it might be because she wasn't getting enough sleep but Tomoka knew it was absolutely not that.

Sakuno knew exactly who she was talking about, but she only blushed a little and then sighed, "I-It's New Year today… R-Ryoma-kun is still in the US tournaments, he's not going to make it back", her heart jerked sharply, thinking that her boyfriend would still be in the US while today was New Year and they wouldn't be able to spend their time together.

Ryoma Echizen as I'm sure you know who it is, had spent months competing in the US tournament, being the only teenager in it, and he never lost a single match, the fan club had just spread to another school and over the state. And he was now world famous all over and adored by almost every single girl.

Sakuno watched every one of his matches on TV even when she had to stay up late, and after every match, Ryoma would call her and talk with her, he'd softened up on her a lot it was like he was a totally different person.

Ryoma had promised her that he'd come back before New Year to stay with her but what with all the tournaments, Ryoma seemed too busy to get back even if he wanted to.

Tomoka frowned at her friend, "Sakuno! You know Ryoma-sama better than anyone! He only makes promises to you and has he ever broken one? NEVER! And besides he's the amazing prince who always does the unbelievable and shows up at the last minute, be faithful!"

Sakuno forced up a smile, "I-I guess he's going to make it…" she murmured.

"That's the spirit!"

They were walking down a snow covered street, it was the holidays as you know, today was New Year at twelve pm so they had done some food shopping for dinner.

Sakuno quietly looked up at the grey sky as they walked, _Ryoma-kun… are you going to come back? I miss you, we all miss you…_

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**2:00pm this afternoon… USA**

"**Please! Echizen-san! I'm sure we can work something out",** his secretary called rushing after the boy who was already walking away from him towards the airport.

Ryoma stopped in his tracks and glared back at him, **"What do you want me to do here? We have two weeks of holiday, there's no more tournaments for now, I warned you before that I was going back to Tokyo and you said yes so I'm going",** he said coldly and continued walking.

"B-But your fans…" 

"Mada Mada Dane",the prince interrupted with his famous quote and walked through the gates to check in, leaving a completely dumbfounded secretary standing far behind him.

By now the two had attracted quite a lot of attention and the paparazzi was already running towards the tennis star with his camera.

But Ryoma Echizen had already walked through the corridor towards his plane.

_I'm coming Sakuno…_

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**10:00pm late at night… Tokyo**

Tomoka and Sakuno were staying up late so they could wait for New Year's count down (12pm) but surprisingly to them, Sumire asked them to take a late night walk with her.

And ho, ho, ho… what did they find? The three had walked right up to Seishun Academy and there was a HUGE party going on at the oval, bright lights hung everywhere with "Happy New Year" banners.

Food and drink stands were piled with goodies and there was even a dance floor marked out with a giant white circle and teenage couples danced to the music playing.

But probably the most spectacular thing of all was a giant Christmas tree to the side, students were putting on their own little favourite things and decorations for the tree, it was a gigantic New Year's Tree.

The girls smiled in delight, almost everyone was there, even Horio, Katsuo, Kachiro and of course, all the Seigaku regulars.

Sakuno turned to her grandmother, "O-Obaa-chan! Did you plan this?" she asked, awed at the beauty.

Sumire grinned, "Who else?"

"It's beautiful!" Sakuno breathed as Sumire quickly excused herself to go talk with one of the teachers and get the last preparations sorted out.

"Sakuno-chan! Want to come with me? We can go meet Horio and the others!" Tomoka said excitedly.

Sakuno looked towards the dancefloor at all the couples and the excitement completely drained out of her, she knew soon, Tomoka and Horio were going to dance (even if they couldn't dance properly without fighting and stepping on each other's foot) and she would have to watch them, it pained her.

The fourteen year old shook her head politely, "Gomen **(sorry)**, I think I just want to um… spend a little time alone", she said.

Tomoka looked worried but nodded, understanding her, she walked off to find her boyfriend.

Sakuno sighed and leaned against a pole, this was beautiful almost everyone was here to celebrate, _almost_ but the most special person wasn't there with her, she felt tears well up in her eyes as she felt so lonely.

No, he wouldn't want to see me like this… 

She rubbed away the tears and was about to go with Tomoka when a voice appeared behind her, "It's a wonderful celebration isn't it?"

Sakuno froze, _could it be? Could it be him?_ But she soon realized it was Shusuke Fuji and her heart dropped again.

The sixteen-year-old boy came from behind her, holding a paper cup with some sort of liquid in it, "What do you think of this party Ryuzaki-san?" he asked grinning as always.

Sakuno forced a smile and said in a quiet voice, "Yeah… it's beautiful, Obaa-chan certainly does have a good taste".

"Mmm-hmmm, have you tried any of the food or drinks? I would suggest you have a try at Taka's Sushi stand or maybe Inui's Drink stand", Shusuke said, showing Sakuno the slushy, red liquid in the cup and then he drank it all in one gulp, "I do recommend Inui's drinks the most".

Sakuno sweat-dropped at this and gave a nervous laugh, "Um… I think I'll pass…" she murmured.

Shusuke nodded, "Ok, but everyone's having a lot fun, you don't seem to be, is anything on your mind?"

Sakuno looked around and noticed everyone certainly looked like they were having a great time. Even Kunimitsu had a small smile on his face, she turned back to Shusuke, "N-Not really", she lied, not wanting to get him involved.

Sakuno took another look around and finally she felt as if to them, no one was missing, it was as if they'd completely forgotten about Ryoma and just moved on… How could they possibly manage to keep all the hurt in?

"You know, we haven't forgotten about him one bit", Shusuke said as if reading her mind. And continued,

"I video tape every single match he's in, and after practice, all of the Seigaku regulars and I would watch his matches at my place, Inui would record every bit of data so Echizen could look at it when he comes back,

"Momo and Eiji cheers for him even if we know he can't hear us, we're doing all we can to support him and I'm sure you are too, we'll never forget him. We all miss him and hope he'll come back one day, to stay".

Sakuno finally managed a small smile, her eyes twinkling with tears, "A-Arigatou **(thank you)** for telling me, Ryoma-kun would appreciate all of this", she said shakily.

"I know he will, but I'm sure even if he can't see you right now, he would want you to be happy", Shusuke said gently.

Sakuno was a bit surprised because she never really realized that, yes; he would want everyone to be happy, right?

"A-Arigatou Fuji-senpai"

The boy smiled as always, "You're welcome, I'm happy to help"; he said and excused himself before walking away to take another cup of Inui's penal-tea.

For the next one and a half hour, Sakuno stayed with Tomoka and the others, eating snacks, drinking Ponta, and hanging their own ornaments on the giant New Year's tree, but when slow music started to play and couples got on as well as Tomoka and Horio, Sakuno excused herself and walked away from the party.

She sat under the Sakura tree which was her and Ryoma's secret spot, it wasn't really far from the party, and in fact you could still see it clearly.

Sakuno cuddled her knees together and laid her chin on them, sighing and looking towards the romantic lights and the couples dancing, she tried to enjoy herself, and she did right?

But she just couldn't take it; there was still this emptiness inside her heart, which was stopping her from even smiling properly.

And for the next half an hour till the countdown, she watched the beautiful Sakura petals fall and kept forcing back the tears that were trying to break out.

Soon her grandmother announced into the microphone in the middle of the dancefloor as the music stopped, "5 seconds till New Year begins! Stand with your friends and let's begin the countdown!"

Everyone cheered and began screaming out the seconds left, Sakuno continued to sit under the tree watching the whole thing, she was alone, couldn't even find the strength to stand with Tomoka or anyone else for that matter. She missed him, she wanted him with her, and hot tears began to well up in her eyes, ones she could not stop.

"FIVE!!!"

A single tear escaped her eyes and rolled down her cheek…

"FOUR!!!"

A second tear followed with a cold wind…

"THREE!!!"

Another tear…

"TWO!!!"

Yet another…

"ONE!!!"

She gave up and let the tears flow down her cheek…

"Happy New Year Sakuno", a voice whispered warmly into her ear as a pair of strong arms wrapped around her waist from behind and pulled her onto his lap.

"HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Back at the party, were the students shouting and cheering the same words but Sakuno completely ignored them.

The boy gave her a light kiss on the cheek and held her tightly, "I missed you", he said, smiling.

More tears ran down her cheek and she turned in his arms, beaming at the dark green haired boy with gold cat like eyes, "R-Ryoma-kun!" she cried falling completely into his embrace and putting both her arms round his neck.

Ryoma began laughing for the first time in months and he let himself fall back onto the soft green grass as fireworks and tennis balls went off into the sky.

Sakuno lay on top of him and she let the tears of happiness rush away, soaking Ryoma's jacket, but he didn't seem to mind at all, "I-I missed you too Ryoma-kun", she stuttered.

Ryoma kissed her fully on the lips as more fireworks went off and bright colours descended into the night, they pulled away for air and he laid his forehead against hers, "I kept my promise didn't I? I'd never break it… but I only do it for you" he said smiling.

Sakuno blushed and buried her head into his chest, enjoying the comfort and pleasure of being with Ryoma again, "Arigatou Ryoma-kun, I'm so glad you came back".

"I still have to go back, but will you come with me this time?" Ryoma asked, staring down at the blushing girl in his arms.

"I want to be by your side", Sakuno said, burying her face into his chest again to hide the blush.

The boy smirked at seeing her cute blushes again and whispered in her ear, "Arigatou… for waiting".

And for the rest of the night Sakuno stayed in Ryoma's arms as they watched the fireworks together, it was probably a New Year that they'd look back to and share together…

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Unknowingly to the two teenagers, Shusuke was filming the whole scene while the regulars and Tomoka, Horio, Kachiro and Katsuo stood watching with admiration (although Kunimitsu and Kaido seemed all the same).

Inui was collecting new data on Ryoma, mumbling things like "Now I know he's the one to always do the impossible and surprise people whenever he can"… and so on.

Momo and Eiji as I'm sure you know were saying things like, "Ah… young love, young love", and "Ah… so young, so young".

Oishi and Kawamura were just smiling at the couple while Kunimitsu stood watching emotionlessly.

Kaido looked up at the fireworks instead and noticed one of them exploded into the words, "Happy New Year!" perfectly. "Wonder how they do that", he murmured to himself.

Momo overheard this and snorted, "Of course you wonder", he said, "Because you're a total baka **(idiot)**"

"What did you say _porcupine head?!_" Kaido hissed.

Momo grew furious and glared at him, "Made a name for me huh Viper? Want me to give you a new name?"

"Want a black eye instead?"

"Guys! Break it up!" Eiji said pushing the two apart, "Don't ruin the lovebirds' night".

Tomoka nodded, "Exactly", she turned and looked at the two sitting under the tree together with admiration, "Ryoma-sama is always the one to do the impossible", she breathed, her eyes twinkling.

"You mean _I'm _not good enough for you with my _four _years of tennis experience?" Horio bragged.

"Give me a break", Katsuo and Kachiro said in unison.

The conversation grew louder and louder…

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Both Sakuno and Ryoma heard the noise and Sakuno looked up at the prince, "Sh-Shouldn't we go join them Ryoma-kun? They must want to see you too", she said and moved a little in his lap.

But Ryoma held her tighter, "They can wait, stay with me for now", he said smiling down at her.

I want to stay by your side… 

_And go wherever you go…_

_Because I want to know that you need me…_

_Because I want to know that I can help you…_

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**Finished! Like it, like it? PLEASE REVIEW! It would really support me with writing my other fanfic(s).**

**Were you thinking that I would set the scene as Ryoma's birthday? I was going to but the idea of New Year just came to my mind and I thought the countdown would be pretty good for it! **

**Thankyou for reading and I hope you check out my other one too! I'll be leaving to China in a few days so I hope I can update Way of Life…**

**Anyway…**

**HAPPY BIRTHDAY RYOMA-KUN!!!**** Even though it is a bit early but oh well! **

**Yula089**


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